Children, today as a special treat, everyone receives a halo that they can take home. Who wears a halo? . . .Yes, it is true that angels do have halos, but each saint also has a halo. Friends of Jesus? Yes, certainly. In Orthodox Christian tradition, each of us can become a saint and receive a halo. So later in this sermon, when I say, “Are you ready children? Action!” please stand up and put the halo in place on your head.

The Gospel for today from the seventeenth chapter of St. John begins with the words of Christ, who lifts His eyes up to heaven and says: “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son, that the Son may glorify You.” To my surprise, as I began to prepare this sermon, I realized that every day of our lives, we can each say to God, the Father: “the hour has come; glorify me, that I may glorify You.” In other words, we can each live in the present moment with Christ in the presence of God the Father; and to the extent that we are able to link our lives to the life of Christ, we too will be glorified by God the Father.

Now, when Christ said those words, “the hour has come; glorify Me, that I may glorify You,” He was speaking not only of His death, but also of His resurrection and His ascension that we celebrated last Thursday. As this gospel reading makes clear, Christ is offering each of us “eternal life.” And what is eternal life? “This is eternal life,” says this gospel, “that they [that’s us—you and me—that we] may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

So how can you and I gain eternal life? How can we live forever? Christ tells us in this gospel reading how He glorified God the Father. Christ says: “I glorified You [Father] on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.” That is something each of us can do—accomplish the work that God the Father gives each of us to do. We are not being asked by God to become famous, to achieve some magnificent work that will be remembered for generations to come. No, we are simply being asked to live our lives as Christians, to grow up.

It’s important to notice that Christ is not offering this possibility of being glorified, of living a fulfilled life with Him, to everyone in the world. Christ says to the Father: “I do not ask on behalf of the world, but [on behalf] of those whom You have given Me; for they are yours.” In other words, Christ is asking for glory—for fulfillment, for eternal life—only for those who believe in Him. Christ is asking for fulfillment not only for the apostles and those people who chose in the first century to follow Him, but for each of us. Furthermore, we do not need to have visible halos over our heads as we follow Christ. Just think what a disadvantage that would be—to go to school or to work or to try to help someone else when you had a halo over your head. People would certainly notice you, but they would not relate to you very much, because they would be very afraid of what you might say to them or what you might do.

Are you ready children? Action! Today as a special treat for all of us, especially parents, every child here can become a saint; and they are taking their halos home with them. However, that doesn’t mean you are each going to behave like saints, does it? No, you can be yourselves. You can grow up slowly. You are still living in the world. OK, children, you can sit down now and either take off your halos or leave them on. It’s your choice. Each of you—each of us—have to decide how to live now as Christians in the world. We are still living in the world; and we are also growing up in the world, whatever our ages, as we learn how to follow Christ

That is precisely what Christ says in the gospel for today: “I [says Jesus Christ] am no longer in the world; and yet they [that’s us—all those who follow Christ throughout the centuries—they] themselves are in the world, and come to You, Holy Father.” And then, while we are all still living in the world, Christ says a big prayer for each of us to the Father. Christ says to the Father: “Keep them [that’s us]—Keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We [Father and Son] are [one].

That’s quite a prayer. It’s known as “the High Priestly Prayer” because Christ as our pastor—our priest who baptizes us, who offers us the Eucharist—the Body and Blood of Christ—Christ asks that God the Father will keep us so close to Him that we will each be one as the Father and Son are one. It’s hard to believe, but it is true: We all share in the glory of God the Father and the Son. And what is even more amazing is that we do not have to become saints to share in that glory. We only need to pray—to ask God what work He wishes us to achieve in our lives.

In the epistle reading for today from the twentieth chapter of the book of Acts, St. Paul tells us how to find out what work God wishes each of us to achieve in our lives. Just before leaving the city of Ephesus in 55 AD, St. Paul said to those around him, as he says to us today: “And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance … [that you seek]. I have [longed for] no one’s silver or gold or clothes. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my own needs and to [those] who were with me. In everything,” says St. Paul, “I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ And when [St. Paul] had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.”

Here then from St. Paul is a prescription—a model, a pattern—of how each of us, whatever our age—no matter whether we are four or 94, or somewhere in between—can find the work that God wishes us to achieve in our lives. Receive the grace of God; don’t seek the money or possessions of someone who is wealthier than you; look after yourselves—in St. Paul’s words, “minister to your own needs”—but also look after those who are with you. Work hard; help the weak; remember that “it is more blessed to give than to receive;” and pray.

And so we ascribe as is justly due all might, majesty, dominion, power and praise to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, always now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen

Deacon Emmanuel Kahn